The damaged drone with a crack on its body

On Oct. 22, a drone flying over a valley near the Xiling Snowy Mountains in Sichuan province was downed by a hawk.

A witness, surnamed Zhang, said he saw a hawk pecking at something in the sky, but didn’t realize the white dot was a drone at first. Zhang described the drone as hovering when the hawk dived toward it. Hit by the hawk, the drone swayed but continued to hang in the air. Then, directing itself at the drone's propellers, the hawk attacked the top of the drone. As a result, the propellers stopped working and the drone dropped to the ground.

The drone's propellers

After walking around 500 meters along the valley, the drone's operator, Xue Ping (a pseudonym), eventually found the broken drone, its propeller and body damaged. The drone also sported a bloodstain, presumably from the hawk. Xue said he had only planned to fly the drone, which was borrowed from his friend, on the flat land in the valley. The hawk’s appearance was not something he anticipated. Xue tried to turn the drone around and avoid the bird, but his attempts came too late.

Shen You, head of the Chengdu Bird Watching Organization, explained that the hawk likely mistook the drone for food or an invader. Shen also emphasized that the growing number of drones has had an impact on birds. Some birds fear the buzz of flying drones. Moreover, birds can be hurt by the drones, either by flying into the propellers or by attempting to attack them.

Of course, there is a possible upside to the interest many hawks exhibit in drones. Netherland police plan to train hawks to catch illegal drones, since hawks target drones already, reported the BBC in September. 

[File photo: hawk]